Angels high above the chapel ceilings mocking the demise
A civilization built on an original sin armed with weapons of carnal destruction
A tragic comedy written by the prophets armed with a fountain of ink

Violins replaced with drums
Swords with guns
Laughter with tears
Love with apathy

A sad tale we have woven
Trapped in a web of deceit and lies

Love is infinite
It is written in the stars; those cosmic storytellers in the sky
To the left, Aries
To the right, Pisces
In the middle millions and millions of unknown answers to a single question

All around, a wasteland of brown longing for green
Life spared for one more day, another year, another century
We pray to the golden dollar
Idolizing their every move
We are the puppets led on strings by the media puppeteers playing games with our hearts and minds

Led astray by one
Consequences of many

Love is infinite, dirty and betrayed
Innocent in the first light, corrupted with impending darkness

On the runway of hidden dreams, she shines
A bright star on a dimly lit night
Shining through the infinite abyss in search of the great unknown
With only the passion of the soul to guide her way

An extension of nature, a blossoming rose
A cool breeze; a blanket to warm the gentle freeze
Lips, touched by the nectar of the sweet fruits of the angels

The stage is hers; spotlight so clear
Strike a pose
The secret smile
Unspoken embrace
Make love to the camera; hold back, remain in the control
In her eyes, the words spoken so clear
Deep, penetrating, hypnotized

A spellbinding beauty casting the audience with a potion
A dash of this, a sprinkle of that
Rendered powerless

Your presence wrapped in an aura of wonder
Mystique

Surrender, we must
Cast the white flag and render defeat

Gravitating to this runway princess
The pull so strong
Innocence. subtle and blissful she remains

Forever changed, a radiating force has come upon this stage
Dress flowing with every step
Curves sculpted by the gods
Flowing hair, soft porcelain skin, legs slip into an uncontrollable gravitational pull

Oh, runway princess
With a blink, you are gone, but a vision tattooed forever until next we meet
You, but a dream or a reality

Remember when shit was cool
We drank because we were happy
Danced because the music moved our souls
Kissed those lips, so wet and tingly
Every time felt like the first
Life was all about Toad, Gin Blossoms, Soul Asylum, Better Than Ezra and a good 40 of malt anything

The sound of drums meant it was Friday
Late nights at the park with a cheap malt liquor and nothing but stories and laughter to share
It was a crazy life
Warm and safe
What happened stayed between us, a circle of trust

Bikes took us to heaven and back
The Crue reminded us of Home Sweet Home
Baseball cards were our 401k
Winter was cold, summer at the lake and dreams were without limit

No curfew
No rules
Just a world without remorse
HBO and rewind was all we knew; it was cool
A Styrofoam cup and string was our smart phone

Home movies meant the world
We were the center of the universe
Oscar winners and superstars
The red carpet was main street, small town USA and the prom was the night of a 1000 stars

With my Walkman, I escaped life and dream about her
My secret love
Love came walking in by Van Halen, over and over and over again
Never imagining I’d see her at the reunion and feel that same tingle inside

Depression meant snow on the ground and no snow day

Manhood happened behind the convenience store
Skateboards and a glimpse at Playboy
Branded in our head, Miss July; forever in our hearts
Still my dream girl, that brunette laid out on three pages

Stealing penny Swedish fish so invigorating
Shhhhh
I’ll never confess

Remember when shit was cool
Security breach was breaking through our window screen because we forgot our key
Home alone, of course
Our parents worked and we played
The cool kids had a pool; wore the varsity jacket and owned the land

By birth, we are guilty
The first breath begins the march to the infinite eternal domain
We are the forbidden fruit in the castle of the high ruler
A hierarchy of greed and power; lust and torture
A rite of the original sin
Powerless to the whips and chains that bind and inflict pain

Delve deeper with each passing day
More knowledge, more scars
Crippled by time
Walk a little slower; pierce the skin to stop the process
Cut out the sin running through the veins
Vanity fading

Freedom
A humorous passage
Flawed by the caustic flames of words
Betrayed by the empty wallet
Left to rot on the city streets

Forbidden fruit we are
Worms biting through the pores
Rotten to the coreThis heart will not plant another tree
A beating seed without renewal for the first spring wind

Going on living within
Going on living within

Heated, cooled, rested for another night
Hibernate, rejoice, pray to end another fight
I don’t know, what I seek, is this real or is it right
For now, I’ll close my eyes and cleanse it all without my sight

Greed and hunger are twins separated at birth
Both manipulating us to feel or steal
A dirty vet with a cardboard sign, his only identity
A sailor yachting at sea disrupting the natural order of the ocean
A collector purchasing the art of a dead pauper for 20 million dollars
A child crying for just one meal as the bugs swarm his tethered body gnawing at the flesh

Collect the thoughts in a jar
Store it for the next world to see
Bottled up, safe, secure, protected

Look at the memories

The first kiss locked in the song on the cassette tape on the floor of broken dreams
Virginity, a donation with no reward
First love, tragic, so tragic
Second, jaded
Third, waiting

Dreams
Floating in that lockbox with the moonlight holding the key

Happiness
That is a tricky little animal
She peeks out behind the tree
Around the corner, you try to catch her
In the closet, perhaps
Nope, gone for now
I’ll see her again soon

For now, lost in a trance
Lost in a song
Lost in the memory scripted so eloquently in my journal
The sky opened with each page and then clouds ensued and rain washed away the words as it lay again in the back of the closet

Let me be, watching the sap from the tree
Waiting for a little honey to comfort me.